This picture is at the Christmas Formal of '96...from the left, that is Nathan Melland and Brooke the DG; Big Ely Randleas and Angie Cook; Yours Truly and Jenni Szambecki (without question, my dearest friend).
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.
In the summer of '96, I was playing semi-professional baseball with a team in Wichita named the Jets, and preparing for what I thought would be a textbook college endeavor at WSU...you know, 4 years to the degree, having fun the whole time. I was preparing to tryout for the Wichita State Shocker Baseball Team, so I called the office to find out when the tryouts were and if there were any meetings I would need to attend or qualifications that I would need to meet. I spoke with a girl named Ann Anderton, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, and a volunteer helper for the baseball team. We spoke briefly on the phone, and talked at length when I came into the office to meet with Scott (The Cub) Smith, one of the coordinators and a morning DJ with KKRD (Don, Patty, and The Cub). Well, she asked some questions about my plans for the Greek system, if any. I said I hadn't really thought about it, but it wasn't a bad idea. I wasn't the most busy person on the face of the earth, so I went to functions at all 8 fraternities on campus: Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Sigma, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Delta Upsilon, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, in that order. It seemed weird at most of the houses, but the SAE house was unique -- they were just a bunch of dudes hanging out together, and they seemed to genuinely care about each other. I had been over to the Phi Delt house 3 or 4 times, and unfortunately signed a bid card with their fraternity. I felt okay with the decision until I went over to the house one day and was totally ignored, then later that week as I was heading out for baseball practice, Brian (Maddogg) Christiansen met me at the door, to convince me that I should go to this function that they were having at the house, and told me about the programs that the house was working on for its undergraduates. I felt bad, so I interrupted him and said that I had signed with the Phi Delt house. He seemed distraught, but took it in stride, inviting me to a bachelor party of an alumni brother at Hero's sports bar and grill. Here's the deal: when the SAE house gave me their bid card, I took it home and signed it, but never turned it in. I went to the bachelor party, and told Maddogg about this, and he questioned me "Five Apples?" after explaining what it would mean if I had signed the bid card. I said that I had made a mistake and that I wanted to be an SAE, not a Phi Delt, and that I had the signed bid card in my car where I had left it that night of the rush function I went to for the house. He said that if it was actually in my car, he wanted to get it right now, and if so, he would pull some strings and make sure I was an SAE. We went out to the car and I gave him the card. He was overjoyed at this and showed me the pledge grip and said "Five Apples" to me. This turned out to be the best decision I would make in my young college life. I went on to become the President of the pledge class, VP of Junior Greek, IFC PR chair, Active chapter Chaplain, Honor Pledge, and Outstanding New Member of the Wichita State Greek System; I was also on the Heskett Center Board of Directors, and the General Education Committee with SGA -- all this within the span of 2 semesters. It was a great time, but unfortunately cut short by an untimely pregnancy that has led to the joy in my life in Kaitlynn, my now 2 year old daughter. That's my story on how I became an SAE...interesting, huh?
